The Executive Director of the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Dr Rasheed Draman is urging Minority Members of Parliament to reconsider their decision to boycott parliament to solidarise with three of their colleagues who are facing prosecution.

According to him, the minority plays a crucial role in parliament, therefore their continuous absence from the house will hamper their mandate of representing electorates.

“What I have also been saying is that their presence in the house is very critical for the oversight role that we expect of a responsible opposition.

"At least, taking a cue from what we saw during the E-levy as well as some other bills that went before the house," he said.

According to him, the Majority Leader had mentioned that if they [Minority] continue to be absent, key decisions will be taken without them.

On the back of that, he stressed that "these decisions will be binding on our republic and there could be consequences which are negative on Ghanaians."

"So, the minority would have to revisit that strategy, and I think there is a need for some conversation within the leadership so that some cool heads will prevail.”

His comments come on the back of the Speaker shooting down the Minority’s quest to have their names captured as absent with permission for their recent boycotts.

The caucus had in a fierce argument on the floor demanded that their members’ names must be captured as absent with permission whenever they boycott sittings to go to court in support of their colleagues facing prosecution.

Speaker shoots down Minority MPs’ request to be marked absent with permission during boycotts

Arguing on the floor on Wednesday, the North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said for the accuracy of records, their absence should be captured as a boycott.

This, he says is to avoid creating an impression that the Minority is shirking their responsibilities in Parliament.

“Mr Speaker, we had indicated that anytime our colleagues appear before the courts, we will boycott proceedings and yesterday’s [Tuesday] absence was a boycott, so I thought that it will be captured for the record. Because I recall that the vote and proceedings have captured previous walkouts and boycotts so I rise to seek your guidance on this matter for accuracy sake so that the impression is not created that we just are absenting and not working,” he said.